Product Reviews

Shuttle's latest barebones PC is unusual. First, it has a fingerprint reader integrated into the flip-down door at the base of the front panel. Next to this is a Speed-Link button, which allows you to use one of the two front USB2 ports to connect another PC directly instead of using a network cable. Why a PC that's aimed at media centre use needs these two features is unclear.

The PCI Express x16 graphics card slot will let you add a more powerful card than the integrated Nvidia GeForce 7050PV, but the 300W power supply doesn't have a PCI Express power connector. Then there are the two eSATA ports at the rear for connecting external hard disks (configured in a RAID if you so desire), but this somewhat defeats the point of buying a small form factor PC. Also, there are no legacy ports, so you'll need a USB keyboard and mouse.

However, the SN68PTG6 does offer a lot for your money. Aside from the fingerprint reader, there's integrated Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11g wireless networking, eight-channel audio with S/PDIF out, Gigabit Ethernet and an HDMI output. This is a real advantage if you plan to use the PC as a media

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centre, but the GeForce 7050PV's gaming prowess is lacking. In Call of Duty 2 it managed only 2.2 frames per second (fps), but when we installed - or rather, shoehorned in - our reference ATI Radeon X1950 Pro, this jumped to 36.4fps.

It's worth noting that only a single-slot graphics card with a low-profile heatsink will fit; our card's Zalman cooler stuck out of the side and prevented us putting the case lid back on. We also installed 2GB of DDR2 RAM and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, and these led to the sort of performance we would expect in our Windows benchmarks.

Behind the front panel, there's room for a hard disk, a DVD writer (which sits behind the top flap) and a second 3½in drive, such as a second hard disk, a media card reader or floppy drive. The motherboard has two SATA channels and an EIDE connector, so you can't install two SATA hard disks and a SATA optical drive.

Thanks to the system's extremely quiet running, plus the wireless networking and HDCP-compliant HDMI output, it's best suited to media centre use. It's also worth noting that the integrated sound card supports Dolby Digital Live! and DTS Connect. The XPC can also decode high-definition video, as long as you install at least an Athlon 64 X2 4200+. Videos in 720p H.264 played smoothly, but a 1080p Blu-ray movie was a little jerky using the on-board graphics.

One minor complaint is that build quality isn't quite up to the level we've come to expect from Shuttle. The power button kept sticking, and we had to remove the cover to push it out each time. If you want to build a media centre PC, though, the SN68PTG6 is a good choice. It may have some unnecessary frills, but it's still good value.